Techniques to train a personal area network component

ABSTRACT

Techniques to train a personal area network component may include obtaining a packet error rate from a personal area network component. It may be determined that the packet error rate is greater than a packet error rate threshold after a time period. A reservation may be requested from a wide area network component based a first transmit pattern from the personal area network component. A second or adjusted transmit pattern from the wide area network component may be received. Personal area network signals may be transmitted based on the second transmit pattern. The time period may be adjusted based on a personal area network packet error rate of the second transmit pattern. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

BACKGROUND

Devices such as, smart phones, laptops, tablets and/or netbookscommunicate wirelessly using various technologies. The variouscommunication technologies may be used simultaneously. For example, acell phone may use both Bluetooth technology and 4G technology, such as,long term evolution (LTE) radios.

The various forms of communication technology often interfere with oneanother. This is especially true when two different forms ofcommunication technology, such as Bluetooth and 4G technology, arecollocated on a device. The interference between Bluetooth and 4Gtechnology is often a result of the frequency bands used by each type ofcommunication technology. For example, since 4G technology may include a2.3 GHz and/or a 2.5 GHz frequency band and Bluetooth may include a 2.4GHz industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) frequency band, Bluetoothreception may collide with 4G transmissions. These collisions typicallyresult in a loss of Bluetooth packets which disrupts the quality of aBluetooth signal. Additionally, Bluetooth transmissions may desensitize4G radio reception.

Current solutions use wire signaling by real-time monitoring andmessaging between wireless modules. As the resources use real-timetracking and handshaking, the number of wires and types of signals arefixed resulting in an inflexible and resource-heavy solution. It is withrespect to these and other considerations that the present improvementshave been needed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a system to reduce interference.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of an interference reduction component.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a personal area network component.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of the communication exchanged betweena Bluetooth component and a 4G component.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a logic flow to train a personalarea network component.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of a logic flow to retrain a personalarea network component.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of a computing architecture.

FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment of a communications architecture.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments are directed to techniques to train a personal areanetwork (PAN) component. Some embodiments are particularly directed totechniques to train a PAN component to mitigate interference between PANtransmissions and/or receptions and wide area network (WAN) receptionsand/or transmissions, respectively, in a device with PAN and WANcomponents. When a packet error rate of the PAN transmissions exceeds athreshold, the PAN component may transmit an adjusted pattern dependingon preferences from the WAN component. In an embodiment, a PAN componentmay include a Bluetooth component and a WAN component may include a 4Gcomponent.

In an embodiment, for example, an apparatus may comprise a processingcomponent and an interference reduction component. In an embodiment, theinterference reduction component may be operative on the processingcomponent. The interference reduction component may include a PANcomponent and a WAN component. A PAN component may obtain a firsttransmit pattern and may request a reservation from a WAN componentbased on the first transmit pattern. The WAN component may receive thereservation request, determine a second transmit pattern based onpreferences of the WAN component, and send the second transmit patternto the PAN component. In an embodiment, the second transmit pattern mayinclude one or more slots reserved for PAN transmission. The PANcomponent may receive the second transmit pattern from the WAN componentand transmit PAN packets based on the second transmit pattern.

As the PAN component may be trained to adapt to an adjusted transmitpattern, the PAN component does not rely on a re-transmit window tore-transmit lost packets. Instead, the PAN component may transmit eachpacket according to an adjusted transmit pattern. Since there is no realtime monitoring, signaling, tracking or wires, computing power andresources are saved. As a result, the embodiments can improveaffordability, scalability, modularity, extendibility, orinteroperability for an operator, device or network.

Reference is now made to the drawings, wherein like reference numeralsare used to refer to like elements throughout. In the followingdescription, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details areset forth in order to provide a thorough understanding thereof. It maybe evident, however, that the novel embodiments can be practiced withoutthese specific details. In other instances, well known structures anddevices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate adescription thereof. The intention is to cover all modifications,equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of theclaimed subject matter.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an interference reduction system100. In one embodiment, the system 100 may comprise a communicationssystem 100. Although the system 100 shown in FIG. 1 has a limited numberof elements in a certain topology, it may be appreciated that the system100 may include more or less elements in alternate topologies as desiredfor a given implementation.

In various embodiments, the communications system 100 may comprise, orform part of a wireless communications system, or a combination of awireless communications system with a wired communications system. Forexample, the communications system 100 may include one or more devicesarranged to communicate information over one or more types of wiredcommunication links. Examples of a wired communication link, mayinclude, without limitation, a wire, cable, bus, printed circuit board(PCB), Ethernet connection, peer-to-peer (P2P) connection, backplane,switch fabric, semiconductor material, twisted-pair wire, co-axialcable, fiber optic connection, and so forth. The communications system100 also may include one or more devices arranged to communicateinformation over one or more types of wireless communication links, suchas wireless shared media 150. Examples of a wireless communication linkmay include, without limitation, a radio channel, infrared channel,radio-frequency (RF) channel, Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) channel, aportion of the RF spectrum, and/or one or more licensed or license-freefrequency bands. In the latter case, the wireless devices may includeone more wireless interfaces and/or components for wirelesscommunication, such as one or more transmitters, receivers,transmitter/receivers (“transceivers”), radios, chipsets, amplifiers,filters, control logic, network interface cards (NICs), antennas,antenna arrays, and so forth. Examples of an antenna may include,without limitation, an internal antenna, an omni-directional antenna, amonopole antenna, a dipole antenna, an end fed antenna, a circularlypolarized antenna, a micro-strip antenna, a diversity antenna, a dualantenna, an antenna array, and so forth. In one embodiment, certaindevices may include antenna arrays of multiple antennas to implementvarious adaptive antenna techniques and spatial diversity techniques.

The communications system 100 may communicate information in accordancewith one or more standards as promulgated by a standards organization.In various embodiments, the communications system 100 may comprise or beimplemented as a mobile broadband communications system. Examples ofmobile broadband communications systems include, without limitation,systems compliant with various Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) standards, such as the IEEE 802.11 standards forWireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) and variants, the IEEE 802.16standards for Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMANs) and variants,and the IEEE 802.20 or Mobile Broadband Wireless Access (MBWA) standardsand variants, among others. In one embodiment, for example, thecommunications system 100 may be implemented in accordance with 3GPPLong Term Evolution (LTE) standard, the Worldwide Interoperability forMicrowave Access (WiMAX) or WiMAX II standard. WiMAX is a wirelessbroadband technology based on the IEEE 802.16 standard of which IEEE802.16-2004 and the 802.16e amendment (802.16e-2005) are Physical (PHY)layer specifications. WiMAX II is an advanced Fourth Generation (4G)system based on the IEEE 802.16j and IEEE 802.16m proposed standards forInternational Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) Advanced 4G series ofstandards. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

The communications system 100 may communicate, manage, or processinformation in accordance with one or more protocols. A protocol maycomprise a set of predefined rules or instructions for managingcommunication among devices. In various embodiments, for example, thecommunications system 100 may employ one or more protocols such as abeam forming protocol, medium access control (MAC) protocol, PhysicalLayer Convergence Protocol (PLCP), Simple Network Management Protocol(SNMP), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) protocol, Frame Relay protocol,Systems Network Architecture (SNA) protocol, Transport Control Protocol(TCP), Internet Protocol (IP), TCP/IP, X.25, Hypertext Transfer Protocol(HTTP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), a contention-based period (CBP)protocol, a distributed contention-based period (CBP) protocol and soforth. In various embodiments, the communications system 100 also may bearranged to operate in accordance with standards and/or protocols formedia processing. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

The communication system 100 may have one or more devices 110, 120, 130.A device 110, 120, 130 generally may comprise any physical or logicalentity for communicating information in communications system 100. Adevice 110, 120, 130 may be implemented as hardware, software, or anycombination thereof, as desired for a given set of design parameters orperformance constraints. Although FIG. 1 may show a limited number ofdevices and components by way of example, it can be appreciated thatmore or less devices may be employed for a given implementation.

In an embodiment, a device 110, 120, 130 may be a computer-implementedsystem having one or more software applications and/or components. Forexample, a device 110, 120, 130 may comprise, or be implemented as, acomputer system, a computing device, a computer sub-system, a computer,an appliance, a workstation, a terminal, a server, a personal computer(PC), a laptop, an ultra-laptop, a handheld computer, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a smart phone, a tablet computer, a gaming device, aset top box (STB), a television, a digital television, a telephone, amobile telephone, a cellular telephone, a handset, a subscriber station(SS), a mobile subscriber center (MSC), a radio network controller(RNC), a microprocessor, an integrated circuit such as an applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), aprocessor such as general purpose processor, a graphics processor, anapplication processor, a digital signal processor (DSP) and/or a networkprocessor, an interface, an input/output (I/O) device (e.g., keyboard,mouse, a display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a touch screendisplay, printer, speakers), a router, a hub, a gateway, a bridge, aswitch, a circuit, a logic gate, a register, a semiconductor device, achip, a transistor, or any other device, machine, tool, equipment,component, or combination thereof. The embodiments are not limited inthis context.

In an embodiment, a device 110, 120, 130 may comprise, or be implementedas, software, a software module, an application, a program, asubroutine, an instruction set, computing code, words, values, symbolsor combination thereof. A device 110, 120, 130 may be implementedaccording to a predefined computer language, manner or syntax, forinstructing a processor to perform a certain function. Examples of acomputer language may include C, C++, Java, BASIC, Perl, Matlab, Pascal,Visual BASIC, assembly language, machine code, micro-code for a networkprocessor, and so forth. The embodiments are not limited in thiscontext.

A device 110, 120, 130 may be a computing device 120. A computing device120 may execute processing operations or logic for the system 100 usinga processing component 140. In an embodiment, the processing componentmay be a processor executed by the personal area network and/or the widearea network. The processing component 140 may comprise various hardwareelements, software elements, or a combination of both. Examples ofhardware elements may include devices, components, processors,microprocessors, circuits, circuit elements (e.g., transistors,resistors, capacitors, inductors, and so forth), integrated circuits,application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), programmable logicdevices (PLD), digital signal processors (DSP), field programmable gatearray (FPGA), memory units, logic gates, registers, semiconductordevice, chips, microchips, chip sets, and so forth. Examples of softwareelements may include software components, programs, applications,computer programs, application programs, system programs, machineprograms, operating system software, middleware, firmware, softwaremodules, routines, subroutines, functions, methods, procedures, softwareinterfaces, application program interfaces (API), instruction sets,computing code, computer code, code segments, computer code segments,words, values, symbols, or any combination thereof. Determining whetheran embodiment is implemented using hardware elements and/or softwareelements may vary in accordance with any number of factors, such asdesired computational rate, power levels, heat tolerances, processingcycle budget, input data rates, output data rates, memory resources,data bus speeds and other design or performance constraints, as desiredfor a given implementation.

The device 120 may communicate with other devices, such as, but notlimited to, device 110, 130, over a communications media 115 usingcommunications signals via the communications component 150. By way ofexample, and not limitation, communications media 115 includes otherwireless communications media. Examples of wireless communications media115 may include acoustic, radio-frequency (RF) spectrum, infrared andother wireless media.

The devices 110, 120, 130 of communications system 100 may be arrangedto communicate one or more types of information, such as mediainformation and control information. Media information generally mayrefer to any data representing content meant for a user, such as imageinformation, video information, graphical information, audioinformation, voice information, textual information, numericalinformation, alphanumeric symbols, character symbols, and so forth.Control information generally may refer to any data representingcommands, instructions or control words meant for an automated system.For example, control information may be used to route media informationthrough a system, or instruct a device to process the media informationin a certain manner. The media and control information may becommunicated from and to a number of different devices or networks. Thecontrol information may include an adapted personal area networktransmit pattern.

The device 120 may execute communications operations or logic usingcommunications component 150. The communications component 150 mayimplement any well-known communications techniques and protocols, suchas techniques suitable for use with packet-switched networks (e.g.,public networks such as the Internet, private networks such as anenterprise intranet, and so forth), circuit-switched networks (e.g., thepublic switched telephone network), or a combination of packet-switchednetworks and circuit-switched networks (with suitable gateways andtranslators). The communications component 150 may include various typesof standard communication elements, such as one or more communicationsinterfaces, network interfaces, network interface cards (NIC), radios,wireless transmitters/receivers (transceivers), wired and/or wirelesscommunication media, physical connectors, and so forth.

The communications components 150 may comprise, or be implemented as,software, a software module, an application, a program, a subroutine,instructions, an instruction set, computing code, words, values, symbolsor combination thereof. The instructions may include any suitable typeof code, such as source code, compiled code, interpreted code,executable code, static code, dynamic code, and the like. Theinstructions may be implemented according to a predefined computerlanguage, manner or syntax, for instructing a processor to perform acertain function. The instructions may be implemented using any suitablehigh-level, low-level, object-oriented, compiled and/or interpretedprogramming language, such as C, C++, C#, Java, BASIC, Perl, Matlab,Pascal, Visual BASIC, assembly language, machine code, and so forth. Theembodiments are not limited in this context. When communicationscomponent 140 is implemented as software, the software may be executedby any suitable processor and memory unit.

The computing device 120 may include an interference reduction component160. The interference reduction component 160 may be used to mitigateinterference. The interference reduction component 160 may include apersonal area network (PAN) component and a wide area network (WAN)component. The PAN component may be trained to adapt to an adjustedtransmit pattern in order to reduce interference between packets sentfrom the PAN component and packets sent from the WAN component.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of an interference reduction component.In an embodiment, the interference reduction component 260 may include afirst radio component and a second radio component. In an embodiment,the interference reduction component 260 may include a personal areanetwork (PAN) component 210 and a wide area network (WAN) component 215.The interference reduction component 260 may mitigate interferencebetween PAN traffic and WAN traffic. The PAN component 210 and the WANcomponent 215 may communicate to obtain a PAN transmit pattern whichreduces interference between PAN and WAN transmissions and/orreceptions.

In an embodiment, the personal area network (PAN) component 210 maytransmit PAN packets. In an embodiment, the PAN component 210 mayinclude wireless network technologies, such as, but not limited to,Bluetooth, Infrared Data Association, ZigBee, Z-Wave and WirelessUniversal Serial Bus (USB). The PAN wireless network technologies arenot limited to these examples.

A PAN component 210 may communicate with nearby devices and/or withdevices further away through the Internet. For example, the PANcomponent 210 may be a Bluetooth component. The Bluetooth component maytransmit Bluetooth packets on an Extended Synchronous ConnectionOriented (eSCO) link. In an embodiment, eSCO packets may include voicedata. The Bluetooth component may include a master/slave relationship totransmit eSCO packets at specific time slots. The Bluetooth componentmay adhere to a Bluetooth standard which specifies several transmit eSCOpacket intervals for a single or multiple slot eSCO packet. For example,the transmit eSCO (T_(eSCO)) packet intervals for a single slot eSCOpacket may be, but are not limited to, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 16 and 18 slots.In an embodiment, the Bluetooth standard may specify a re-transmitwindow for the eSCO packets. The re-transmit window may be used when theprior transmitted packet fails. The re-transmit window for eSCO packetsmay be, but is not limited to, 0, 2 and 4. In an embodiment, alternatetype of packets may be used, such as, but not limited to, packets sentover on an Asynchronous Connectionless Link (ACL).

In an embodiment, the wide area network (WAN) component 215 maycommunicate with devices over a broad range of geographic regions. TheWAN component 215 may transmit 4G packets. The WAN component 215 mayinclude, but is not limited to, 4G radio, either Time-Division Duplex(TDD), Frequency-division duplexing (FDD), a hybrid of TDD and FDD; andit can be 3GPP Long-Term Evolution (LTE), or Worldwide Interoperabilityfor Microwave Access (WiMAX).

In an embodiment, when PAN transmissions and WAN transmissions runfreely, the PAN transmissions and/or receptions may interfere with theWAN receptions and/or transmissions, respectively. In an embodiment, aWAN transmission may collide with a PAN reception, and the PAN packetsmay be lost. Accordingly, a PAN transmit pattern may be obtained andadjusted or adapted based on the WAN component. In an embodiment, a PANtransmission can desensitize WAN reception, and increase the packeterror rate of WAN. The adapted PAN transmission pattern may decrease theerror rate caused by the interference which may improve the overallperformance of PAN and WAN traffic.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a PAN component. In an embodiment,the PAN component 310 may be a Bluetooth component. A Bluetoothcomponent may be trained and/or retrained to transmit a Bluetoothtransmit pattern which avoids interference with a WAN component, suchas, but not limited to, a 4G component.

In order to train and/or retrain the PAN component 310, a currenttransmit pattern of PAN packets may be obtained 320. In an embodiment, acurrent transmit pattern of PAN packets may be obtained 320 by recordingthe PAN's transmission pattern while both PAN and WAN traffic is freerunning. For example, if the PAN component is a Bluetooth component, theBluetooth component may have a pattern which repeats every eight eSCOpackets. For example, the Bluetooth transmit pattern for eSCO packetsmay be (0, 2, 4, −1, 0, 2, 4 −1) repeated every eight Bluetooth packets.A Bluetooth component may detect that the packets are transmitted in aneight packet transmit cycle or an eight packet pattern. In anembodiment, the PAN component with various LTE TDD frame configurationsmay have a two-packet cycle, a four packet cycle, or other multiple ofeight, as eight is the common multiple of 1, 2, 4, and 8. In anembodiment, PAN component 310 may determine how often to be retrainedand may select a Packet Error Rate (PER) threshold that meets a Qualityof Service (QoS) requirement.

In an embodiment, each number within the pattern may represent a timeslot or slot position within an interval period (T_(eSCO)) to transmit apacket. In an embodiment, the transmit pattern may represent eightperiods or intervals which may be equal to eight Bluetooth packets. Inan embodiment, the transmit pattern may have more or less periods. Whena transmission fails, a packet may be retransmitted at a next retransmitopportunity within the period. For example, as discussed above, theretransmit window may include slots 0, 2 and 4 according to Bluetoothprotocol.

For example, a Bluetooth component may have a current transmit patternwith eight periods may be (4, −1, 0, 2, 4, −1, 0, 2). The “4” mayrepresent that a first packet was successfully transmitted at the fifthslot during the first period. The “−1” may represent that this packethas used all re-transmit opportunities and the packet was lost. The “0”may represent that a third packet was transmitted at the first slot inthe third period. The “2” may represent that a fourth packet wastransmitted at the third slot in the fourth period.

As further discussed below, at the “−1” slots where a packet wasrepeatedly lost, the PAN component may request 330 that the WANcomponent yield to PAN traffic during one or more specific periods. Inan embodiment, the PAN component may request a persistent reservationbased on a current transmit pattern from the PAN component.

The PAN component may receive 340 an adjusted transmit pattern from theWAN component. For example, based on the current transmit patterndiscussed above, the Bluetooth component was unable to transmit duringthe 2^(nd) and 6^(th) packets. The Bluetooth component may send thecurrent transmit pattern to a 4G component. As the 2^(nd) Bluetoothpacket is “4”, the 4G component, may decide to give the Bluetoothcomponent the opportunity to transmit either in time slot 0, 2, or 4,based on what time slot is best for the 4G's traffic allocation. In anembodiment, the 4G component may send the Bluetooth component anadjusted transmit pattern, such as (4, 2, 0, 2, 4, 0, 0, 2). Based onthis information, a 4G component chose to reserve a third slot in the2^(nd) period and a first slot in the 6^(th) period so that theBluetooth component may successfully transmit a packet during theseperiods without interference from the WAN. The embodiments are notlimited to this example.

The PAN component may transmit 350 based on the adjusted transmitpattern. For example, referring to the above patterns, the Bluetoothcomponent may adapt the adjusted transmit pattern, (4, 2, 0, 2, 4, 0, 0,2), and may transmit each Bluetooth packet accordingly. For example, thefirst Bluetooth packet may be transmitted at slot 5. The secondBluetooth packet may be transmitted at slot 3. The third Bluetoothpacket may be transmitted at slot 1. The fourth Bluetooth packet may betransmitted at slot 3, etc. As discussed above, the Bluetooth componentdoes not rely on re-transmission to recover the lost packets.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of the communication exchanged betweena Bluetooth component 410 and a 4G component 415. In an embodiment, aBluetooth component 410 may send a reservation request 420 to a 4Gcomponent 415. In an embodiment, the reservation request 420 may ask the4G component to determine a time slot at which the 4G component 415 willyield to Bluetooth traffic.

For example, a Bluetooth component 410 may have been unable tosuccessfully transmit a Bluetooth packet during the 3^(rd) and 5^(th)periods. As a result, the Bluetooth component 410 may request areservation of a slot during the 3^(rd) and 5^(th) periods so that theBluetooth component 410 may successfully transmit during these periods.

In an embodiment, the reservation request 420 may include a firsttransmit pattern of the Bluetooth component 410. For example, the firsttransmit pattern may indicate that the Bluetooth component 410 wasunable to successfully transmit Bluetooth signals during the 3^(rd) and5^(th) periods. In an embodiment, the 3^(rd) and 5^(th) periods may berepresented by −1 as no Bluetooth transmissions were successful duringthose periods. In an embodiment, −1 may represent that the packet waslost. The other periods may be represented by the slot number in whichthe transmissions were successful. For example, a number 0 in the firstperiod may represent that the Bluetooth component 410 successfullytransmitted a Bluetooth signal during the first slot in the firstperiod. For example, a number 4 in the second period may represent thatthe Bluetooth component 410 successfully transmitted a Bluetooth signalat the fifth slot in the second period. For example, the Bluetoothtransmit pattern may be (0, 4, −1, 2, −1, 2, 0, 4).

In an embodiment, the 4G component 415 may receive the Bluetoothtransmission request. In an embodiment, the 4G component may communicatewith a scheduler 418. A scheduler 418 may be in charge of scheduling 4Gtraffic. For example, for WiMAX, the 4G scheduler may be located on abase station. For example, for LTE, the scheduler 418 may be on aneNodeB. In an embodiment, the 4G component 415 may relay the informationfrom the Bluetooth transmission request to the scheduler 418. Thescheduler 418 may select one or more time slots for a Bluetoothtransmission based on the 4G component's preference. In an embodiment,the scheduler 418 may review the 4G transmit patterns and the amount oftraffic expected during a particular period. The scheduler 418 mayselect one or more time slots for a Bluetooth transmission based on the4G component's availability or anticipated availability. The scheduler418 may relay the selected time slots for a Bluetooth transmission tothe 4G component 415.

In an embodiment, the 4G component 415 may send a response 425 withselected time slots for Bluetooth transmission to the Bluetoothcomponent 415. In an embodiment, the response 425 may include a secondor adjusted transmit pattern. In an embodiment, the response 425 withthe second transmit pattern may include one or more slots where the 4Gscheduler 418 reserved time for a Bluetooth transmission, and the 4Gcomponent 415 may relay the reservation response to the Bluetoothcomponent 410. For example, based on the 4G component's 415 preferences,the scheduler 418 may select a time slot for Bluetooth transmission. Inan embodiment, the scheduler 418 may select a time slot for each periodin which the Bluetooth component was unable to successfully transmit asignal. For example, the scheduler 418 may determine a slot in the3^(rd) period and a slot in the 5^(th) period in which it will allow theBluetooth component to transmit a Bluetooth packet. In an embodiment,the 4G component 415 may not send and/or receive 4G data during the oneor more reserved time slots. In an embodiment, the 4G component 415 maystill transmit a signal in the reserved slot since a Bluetooth slotduration is only 0.625 milliseconds while a 4G slot duration is 5 or 10milliseconds. In an embodiment, the 4G component 415 may send theadjusted or second transmit pattern to the Bluetooth component. Forexample, the second transmit pattern may be (0, 4, 2, 2, 0, 2, 0, 4).

Included herein is a set of flow charts representative of exemplarymethodologies for performing novel aspects of the disclosedarchitecture. While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the oneor more methodologies shown herein, for example, in the form of a flowchart or flow diagram, are shown and described as a series of acts, itis to be understood and appreciated that the methodologies are notlimited by the order of acts, as some acts may, in accordance therewith,occur in a different order and/or concurrently with other acts from thatshown and described herein. For example, those skilled in the art willunderstand and appreciate that a methodology could alternatively berepresented as a series of interrelated states or events, such as in astate diagram. Moreover, not all acts illustrated in a methodology maybe required for a novel implementation.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a logic flow 500 for training apersonal area network (PAN) component. In an embodiment, the PANcomponent may be a Bluetooth component. The logic flow 500 may berepresentative of some or all of the operations executed by one or moreembodiments described herein.

In the illustrated embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the logic flow 500 maydetermine that a packet error rate from a PAN component is greater thana packet error rate threshold after a time period at block 502. In anembodiment, a packet error rate threshold may be determined. In anembodiment, the packet error rate threshold may be the packet error ratefrom a PAN component that is needed to meet its Quality of Service (QoS)requirement. In an embodiment, the packet error rate threshold may beset to an industry standard packet error rate threshold. In anembodiment, the packet error rate threshold may be set by a vendor. Inan embodiment, the packet error rate may depend on the type of packetssuch as, but not limited to, talk, picture, data, music and/or video. Inan embodiment, the packet error rate threshold may be set to meet aconnection requirement. In an embodiment, the packet error ratethreshold may be between 0 and 1, where 1 may represent that 100% of allthe packets are decoded successfully and 0 may represent that 0% of thepackets are successfully decoded.

In an embodiment, during a time period, a PAN component and a wide areanetwork (WAN) component may transmit freely. The PAN component and theWAN component may transmit freely as there may be no coordinationbetween the two components.

In an embodiment, as a result of the PAN component and the WAN componenttransmitting freely, packets sent by the PAN component and the WANcomponent may collide and/or create interference. In an embodiment, PANtransmissions may desensitize WAN component reception. In an embodiment,PAN transmissions and/or receptions and WAN receptions and/ortransmissions are especially likely to interfere and/or collide as boththe transmissions and/or receptions are from and/or to the same device.In an embodiment, the PAN component may experience packet loss when aWAN transmission is sent from a device at approximately the same time.

In an embodiment, the PAN component and the WAN component may transmitfreely until a time period has ended. In an embodiment, a time periodmay be determined. In an embodiment, a time period may be used forperiodically training and retraining the PAN transmit pattern. In anembodiment, a time period may be determined by Equation 1 below:T=8*N, N=1, 2, 3, . . .  Equation 1

In an embodiment, a time period may be represented by T. In anembodiment, N may be an integer greater than 0. In an embodiment, thetime period may be equal to eight times an integer.

In an embodiment, after a time period, it may be determined whether thepacket error rate is higher than the packer error rate threshold. In anembodiment, it may be determined that the PAN transmission has a packeterror rate greater than a packet error rate threshold.

The logic flow 500 may obtain a first transmit pattern from the PANcomponent at block 504. In an embodiment, the PAN component may monitorthe transmission of PAN packets and may obtain a first transmit pattern.In an embodiment, the PAN component may have a packet transmit cycle asthe transmission slots may repeat after a certain number of packets havebeen sent. In an embodiment, the PAN component may be a Bluetoothcomponent with an eight packet transmit cycle. For example, the firsttransmit pattern may be obtained by recording the first eight packetssent from the Bluetooth component. The embodiments are not limited tothis example. In an embodiment, each packet to be transmitted within thepattern may be represented in a transmit pattern as a slot number withinthe period. In an embodiment, the transmit pattern for the PAN componentmay have eight periods. In an embodiment, the transmit pattern may havemore or less periods.

For example, the first transmit pattern may be from a Bluetoothcomponent. The first transmit pattern may be (0, 2, 4, −1, 0, 2, 4, −1).Similar to the transmit patterns discussed above, the “−1” may representthat the packet transmission was unsuccessful. The “0” may representthat a packet was transmitted at the first slot. The “2” may representthat a packet was transmitted at the third slot.

The logic flow 500 may request a reservation from a WAN component basedon the first transmit pattern at block 506. In an embodiment, the WANcomponent may be a 4G component. For example, when the packet error rateis higher than the packet error rate threshold, a new transmit patternmay be obtained by recording the first eight packets. If one of thosepackets is lost (“−1”) for this new pattern, a reservation may berequested by the PAN component to the WAN component. In an embodiment,the PAN component may ask the WAN component to yield to PAN traffic. Inan embodiment, the PAN component may request a persistent reservationbased on the first transmit pattern.

In an embodiment, the WAN component may receive the PAN transmissionrequest. The WAN component may forward the request to the scheduler, andthe scheduler may select one or more time slots for a PAN transmissionbased on the WAN component's preference. For example, the scheduler maydetermine that it can reserve a certain slot for PAN transmission. Asdiscussed above, the scheduler, may review the WAN component's owntransmit patterns and the amount of traffic expected during a particularperiod in which the PAN component was unable to transmit. The schedulerselect one or more time slots for a PAN transmission based on the WANcomponent's availability or anticipated availability. In an embodiment,the scheduler may modify the first transmit pattern based on the timereserved by the WAN component.

For example, based on the first transmit pattern, the Bluetoothcomponent was unable to transmit a Bluetooth packet during the 4^(th)and 8^(th) periods. The Bluetooth component may ask the WAN component toreserve a slot in the 4^(th) period and a slot in the 8^(th) period sothat the Bluetooth may successfully transmit a packet during thatperiod. The WAN component may be a 4G component. Through the scheduler,a 4G component may determine a slot may be reserved during the 4^(th)and 8^(th) periods in order to allow the Bluetooth component tosuccessfully transmit a Bluetooth signal. In an embodiment, the 4Gcomponent, through the scheduler, may have reserved a slot based on howbusy the 4G component was or expected to be during that that period. Forexample, the 4G component may have reserved a third slot (slot 2) in the4^(th) and 8^(th) periods. The embodiments are not limited to thisexample.

The logic flow 500 may receive a second transmit pattern from the WANcomponent at block 508. For example, a second transmit pattern may bereceived from the WAN component. The second transmit pattern may includeone or more slots that are reserved for PAN transmission. In anembodiment, the one or more slots reserved for PAN transmission mayoccur in one or more periods in the second transmit pattern. Theembodiments are not limited to this example.

Based on the WAN component's preference, the WAN component may select atime slot. For example, the WAN component may be a 4G component and thePAN component may be a Bluetooth component. Based on the 4G component'spresences, the 4G component, through a scheduler, may select a time slotfor Bluetooth transmission and a modified transmit pattern may bereceived by the Bluetooth component. For example, the second or modifiedtransmit pattern may be (0, 2, 4, 2, 0, 2, 4, 2).

The logic flow 500 may transmit PAN signals based on the second transmitpattern at block 510. For example, a second transmit pattern may bereceived from the WAN component where one or more slots in one or moreperiods are reserved for PAN transmission.

For example, the PAN component may be a Bluetooth component and thesecond transmit pattern may be (0, 2, 4, 2, 0, 2, 4, 2). Accordingly,the Bluetooth component may adapt the second transmit pattern and maytransmit each packet accordingly. For example, the first Bluetoothpacket may be transmitted at the first slot (slot 0). The secondBluetooth packet may be transmitted at the third slot (slot 2). Thethird Bluetooth packet may be transmitted at the fifth slot (slot 4).The fourth Bluetooth packet may be transmitted at slot third (slot 2),etc.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of a logic flow 600 for retraining thePAN component. The logic flow 600 may be representative of some or allof the operations executed by one or more embodiments described herein.In an embodiment, the logic flow 600 may be used to adjust the PANtransmit pattern.

In the illustrated embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the logic flow 600. In anembodiment, the logic flow 600 may determine when a time period elapsesat block 604. In an embodiment, the PAN component may transmit accordingto the second transmit pattern until a time period elapses. For example,the PAN component may be a Bluetooth component which transmits accordingto the second transmit pattern until a time period elapses. In anembodiment, a time period elapses when the amount of time that passes isgreater than the time period. In an embodiment, the time period may by 8times an integer as shown in Equation 1 above. In an embodiment, thetime period may be the time period used in FIG. 5, block 502.

The logic flow 600 may receive a trigger event from the WAN componentafter the WAN component changes data allocation at block 604. Thetrigger event may notify the PAN component that the WAN component haschanged data allocation. In an embodiment, a trigger event may occurwhen a WAN component recognizes that the WAN data allocation haschanged. The WAN component may recognize that the data is allocated indifferent moments of time. For example, the data may be allocated fordifferent sub frames in LTE. For example, the data may be allocated fordifferent zones in WiMAX.

The logic flow 600 may adjust the time period based on a packet errorrate at block 606. For example, the time period may be adjusted based ona packet error rate (PER). The time period may be adjusted according toEquations 2 and 3 below:If PER<PER Threshold, then T=T+8*K, K=1, 2, 3 . . .  Equation 2If PER>PER Threshold, then T=T−8*K, K=1, 2, 3 . . .  Equation 3

If the packet error rate is less than a packet error rate threshold,then the time period may be increased since the PAN component may beretrained less often. The new time period may be set to the old timeperiod plus 8 times an integer greater than zero. In an embodiment, thetime period may be increased when the packet error rate is below thepacket error rate threshold as the transmit pattern is successful.Accordingly, the PAN transmission does not need to be adjusted and/orchecked as often.

If the packet error rate is greater than a packet error rate threshold,then the time period may be decreased since the PAN component may beretrained more often. The new time period may be set to the old timeperiod minus 8 times an integer greater than zero. When the packet errorrate is higher than the packet error rate threshold, the transmitpattern is not successful and the PAN component may need to be trainedmore frequently. When the packet error rate is higher than the packeterror rate threshold, the PAN transmit pattern may need to be adjustedmore frequently.

The logic flow 600 may retrain the PAN component when the packet errorrate is greater than the packet error rate threshold at block 608. ThePAN component may be retrained using the techniques described in FIG. 3.In an embodiment, the PAN component may be retrained by obtaining thecurrent transmit pattern, requesting a reservation from the WANcomponent, receiving an adjusted transmit pattern from the WAN componentand transmitting based on the adjusted transmit pattern.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of an exemplary computing architecture700 suitable for implementing various embodiments as previouslydescribed. As used in this application, the terms “system” and“component” are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, eitherhardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or softwarein execution, examples of which are provided by the exemplary computingarchitecture 700. For example, a component can be, but is not limited tobeing, a process running on a processor, a hard disk drive, multiplestorage drives (of optical and/or magnetic storage medium), an object,an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. Byway of illustration, both an application running on a server and theserver can be a component. One or more components can reside within aprocess and/or thread of execution, and a component can be localized onone computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. Further,components may be communicatively coupled to each other by various typesof communications media to coordinate operations. The coordination mayinvolve the uni-directional or bi-directional exchange of information.For instance, the components may communicate information in the form ofsignals communicated over the communications media. The information canbe implemented as signals allocated to various signal lines. In suchallocations, each message is a signal. Further embodiments, however, mayalternatively employ data messages. Such data messages may be sentacross various connections. Exemplary connections include parallelinterfaces, serial interfaces, and bus interfaces.

In one embodiment, the computing architecture 700 may comprise or beimplemented as part of an electronic device. Examples of an electronicdevice may include without limitation a mobile device, a personaldigital assistant, a mobile computing device, a smart phone, a cellulartelephone, a handset, a one-way pager, a two-way pager, a messagingdevice, a computer, a personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, alaptop computer, a notebook computer, a handheld computer, a tabletcomputer, a server, a server array or server farm, a web server, anetwork server, an Internet server, a work station, a mini-computer, amain frame computer, a supercomputer, a network appliance, a webappliance, a distributed computing system, multiprocessor systems,processor-based systems, consumer electronics, programmable consumerelectronics, television, digital television, set top box, wirelessaccess point, base station, subscriber station, mobile subscribercenter, radio network controller, router, hub, gateway, bridge, switch,machine, or combination thereof. The embodiments are not limited in thiscontext.

The computing architecture 700 includes various common computingelements, such as one or more processors, co-processors, memory units,chipsets, controllers, peripherals, interfaces, oscillators, timingdevices, video cards, audio cards, multimedia input/output (I/O)components, and so forth. The embodiments, however, are not limited toimplementation by the computing architecture 700.

As shown in FIG. 7, the computing architecture 700 comprises aprocessing unit 704, a system memory 706 and a system bus 708. Theprocessing unit 704 can be any of various commercially availableprocessors. Dual microprocessors and other multi-processor architecturesmay also be employed as the processing unit 704. The system bus 708provides an interface for system components including, but not limitedto, the system memory 706 to the processing unit 704. The system bus 708can be any of several types of bus structure that may furtherinterconnect to a memory bus (with or without a memory controller), aperipheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of commerciallyavailable bus architectures.

The computing architecture 700 may comprise or implement variousarticles of manufacture. An article of manufacture may comprise acomputer-readable storage medium to store logic. Examples of acomputer-readable storage medium may include any tangible media capableof storing electronic data, including volatile memory or non-volatilememory, removable or non-removable memory, erasable or non-erasablememory, writeable or re-writeable memory, and so forth. Examples oflogic may include executable computer program instructions implementedusing any suitable type of code, such as source code, compiled code,interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code,object-oriented code, visual code, and the like.

The system memory 706 may include various types of computer-readablestorage media in the form of one or more higher speed memory units, suchas read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM(DRAM), Double-Data-Rate DRAM (DDRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), staticRAM (SRAM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, polymermemory such as ferroelectric polymer memory, ovonic memory, phase changeor ferroelectric memory, silicon-oxide-nitride-oxide-silicon (SONOS)memory, magnetic or optical cards, or any other type of media suitablefor storing information. In the illustrated embodiment shown in FIG. 7,the system memory 706 can include non-volatile memory 710 and/orvolatile memory 712. A basic input/output system (BIOS) can be stored inthe non-volatile memory 710.

The computer 702 may include various types of computer-readable storagemedia in the form of one or more lower speed memory units, including aninternal hard disk drive (HDD) 714, a magnetic floppy disk drive (FDD)716 to read from or write to a removable magnetic disk 718, and anoptical disk drive 720 to read from or write to a removable optical disk722 (e.g., a CD-ROM or DVD). The HDD 714, FDD 716 and optical disk drive720 can be connected to the system bus 708 by a HDD interface 724, anFDD interface 726 and an optical drive interface 728, respectively. TheHDD interface 724 for external drive implementations can include atleast one or both of Universal Serial Bus (USB) and IEEE 1394 interfacetechnologies.

The drives and associated computer-readable media provide volatileand/or nonvolatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executableinstructions, and so forth. For example, a number of program modules canbe stored in the drives and memory units 710, 712, including anoperating system 730, one or more application programs 732, otherprogram modules 734, and program data 736.

The one or more application programs 732, other program modules 734, andprogram data 736 can include, for example, the interference reductioncomponent 260, the personal area network (PAN) component 210 and thewide area network (WAN) component 215.

A user can enter commands and information into the computer 702 throughone or more wire/wireless input devices, for example, a keyboard 738 anda pointing device, such as a mouse 740. Other input devices may includea microphone, an infra-red (IR) remote control, a joystick, a game pad,a stylus pen, a touch screen display, or the like. These and other inputdevices are often connected to the processing unit 704 through an inputdevice interface 742 that is coupled to the system bus 708, but can beconnected by other interfaces such as a parallel port, IEEE 1394 serialport, a game port, a USB port, an IR interface, a non-volatile memoryport and so forth.

A monitor 744 or other type of display device is also connected to thesystem bus 708 via an interface, such as a video adaptor 746. Inaddition to the monitor 744, a computer typically includes otherperipheral output devices, such as speakers, printers, and so forth.

The computer 702 may operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections via wire and/or wireless communications to one or moreremote computers, such as a remote computer 748. The remote computer 748can be a workstation, a server computer, a router, a personal computer,portable computer, microprocessor-based entertainment appliance, a peerdevice or other common network node, and typically includes many or allof the elements described relative to the computer 702, although, forpurposes of brevity, only a memory/storage device 750 is illustrated.The logical connections depicted include wire/wireless connectivity to alocal area network (LAN) 752 and/or larger networks, for example, a widearea network (WAN) 754. Such LAN and WAN networking environments arecommonplace in offices and companies, and facilitate enterprise-widecomputer networks, such as intranets, all of which may connect to aglobal communications network, for example, the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 702 is connectedto the LAN 752 through a wire and/or wireless communication networkinterface or adaptor 756. The adaptor 756 can facilitate wire and/orwireless communications to the LAN 752, which may also include awireless access point disposed thereon for communicating with thewireless functionality of the adaptor 756.

When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 702 can includea modem 758, or is connected to a communications server on the WAN 754,or has other means for establishing communications over the WAN 754,such as by way of the Internet. The modem 758, which can be internal orexternal and a wire and/or wireless device, connects to the system bus708 via the input device interface 742. In a networked environment,program modules depicted relative to the computer 702, or portionsthereof, can be stored in the remote memory/storage device 750. It willbe appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary andother means of establishing a communications link between the computerscan be used.

The computer 702 is operable to communicate with wire and wirelessdevices or entities using the IEEE 802 family of standards, such aswireless devices operatively disposed in wireless communication (e.g.,IEEE 802.11 over-the-air modulation techniques) with, for example, aprinter, scanner, desktop and/or portable computer, personal digitalassistant (PDA), communications satellite, any piece of equipment orlocation associated with a wirelessly detectable tag (e.g., a kiosk,news stand, restroom), and telephone. This includes at least Wi-Fi (orWireless Fidelity), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access(WiMAX), 3GPP LTE, and Bluetooth™ wireless technologies. Thus, thecommunication can be a predefined structure as with a conventionalnetwork or simply an ad hoc communication between at least two devices.Wi-Fi networks use radio technologies called IEEE 802.11x (a, b, g, n,etc.) to provide secure, reliable, fast wireless connectivity. A Wi-Finetwork can be used to connect computers to each other, to the Internet,and to wire networks (which use IEEE 802.3-related media and functions).

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary communicationsarchitecture 800 suitable for implementing various embodiments aspreviously described. The communications architecture 800 includesvarious common communications elements, such as a transmitter, receiver,transceiver, radio, network interface, baseband processor, antenna,amplifiers, filters, and so forth. The embodiments, however, are notlimited to implementation by the communications architecture 800.

As shown in FIG. 8, the communications architecture 800 comprisesincludes one or more clients 802 and servers 804. The clients 802 mayimplement the client systems 310, 400. The servers 804 may implement theserver system 330. The clients 802 and the servers 804 are operativelyconnected to one or more respective client data stores 808 and serverdata stores 810 that can be employed to store information local to therespective clients 802 and servers 804, such as cookies and/orassociated contextual information.

The clients 802 and the servers 804 may communicate information betweeneach other using a communication framework 806. The communicationsframework 806 may implement any well-known communications techniques andprotocols, such as those described with reference to systems 300, 400and 700. The communications framework 806 may be implemented as apacket-switched network (e.g., public networks such as the Internet,private networks such as an enterprise intranet, and so forth), acircuit-switched network (e.g., the public switched telephone network),or a combination of a packet-switched network and a circuit-switchednetwork (with suitable gateways and translators).

Some embodiments may be described using the expression “one embodiment”or “an embodiment” along with their derivatives. These terms mean that aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connectionwith the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Theappearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in thespecification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.Further, some embodiments may be described using the expression“coupled” and “connected” along with their derivatives. These terms arenot necessarily intended as synonyms for each other. For example, someembodiments may be described using the terms “connected” and/or“coupled” to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physicalor electrical contact with each other. The term “coupled,” however, mayalso mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with eachother, but yet still co-operate or interact with each other.

It is emphasized that the Abstract of the Disclosure is provided toallow a reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technicaldisclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not beused to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. Inaddition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen thatvarious features are grouped together in a single embodiment for thepurpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is notto be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimedembodiments require more features than are expressly recited in eachclaim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matterlies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thusthe following claims are hereby incorporated into the DetailedDescription, with each claim standing on its own as a separateembodiment. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and “in which”are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms“comprising” and “wherein,” respectively. Moreover, the terms “first,”“second,” “third,” and so forth, are used merely as labels, and are notintended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.

What has been described above includes examples of the disclosedarchitecture. It is, of course, not possible to describe everyconceivable combination of components and/or methodologies, but one ofordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinationsand permutations are possible. Accordingly, the novel architecture isintended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variationsthat fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An article comprising a non-transitorystorage medium containing instructions that when executed enable asystem to: determine that a packet error rate from a personal areanetwork component is greater than a packet error rate threshold after atime period; request a reservation from a wide area network componentbased on a first transmit pattern from the personal area networkcomponent; receive a second transmit pattern from the wide area networkcomponent; transmit personal area network signals based on the secondtransmit pattern; and decrease the time period when a packet error rateof the second transmit pattern is greater than the packet error ratethreshold.
 2. The article of claim 1, the non-transitory storage mediumcomprising instructions that when executed enable the system to: requesta slot from the wide area network component in one or more periods wherepersonal area network packets were lost.
 3. The article of claim 1, thenon-transitory storage medium comprising instructions that when executedenable the system to: receive the second transmit pattern where one ormore slots are reserved for personal area network transmission.
 4. Thearticle of claim 1, the non-transitory storage medium comprisinginstructions that when executed enable the system to: configure the timeperiod, the time period comprises eight times an integer.
 5. The articleof claim 1, the non-transitory storage medium comprising instructionsthat when executed enable the system to: record a time slot for asuccessful personal area network packet transmission in the firsttransmit pattern.
 6. The article of claim 1, the non-transitory storagemedium comprising instructions that when executed enable the system to:increase the time period when the packet error rate of the secondpattern is less than the packet error rate threshold.
 7. The article ofclaim 1, the non-transitory storage medium comprising instructions thatwhen executed enable the system to: receive a trigger event from thewide area network component.
 8. A method, comprising: obtaining a firsttransmit pattern from a personal area network component; determiningthat a packet error rate from the personal area network component isgreater than a packet error rate threshold after a time period;requesting a reservation from a wide area network component based on thefirst transmit pattern; receiving a second transmit pattern from thewide area network component where one or more time slots are reservedfor personal area network transmission; and transmitting personal areanetwork signals based on the second transmit pattern; increasing thetime period when a packet error rate of the second transmit pattern isless than the packet error rate threshold; and decreasing the timeperiod when the packet error rate of the second transmit pattern isgreater than the packet error rate threshold.
 9. The method of claim 8,comprising: requesting a slot in one or more periods where personal areanetwork packets were lost.
 10. The method of claim 8, the personal areanetwork component comprising a Bluetooth component and the wide areanetwork component comprising a 4G component.
 11. The method of claim 8,comprising: recording a time slot for a successful personal area networkpacket transmission in the first transmit pattern.
 12. The method ofclaim 8, comprising: recording a negative one for a time slot in thefirst transmit pattern when a personal area network packet transmissionis lost.
 13. An apparatus, comprising: a processing component; andlogic, at least a portion of which is in hardware, the logic operativeon the processing component to: determine that a packet error rate froma personal area network component is greater than a packet error ratethreshold after a time period; request a reservation from a wide areanetwork component based on a first transmit pattern from the personalarea network component; receive a second transmit pattern from the widearea network component; transmit personal area network signals based onthe second transmit pattern; and decrease the time period when a packeterror rate of the second transmit pattern is greater than the packeterror rate threshold.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13, comprising: a touchscreen display.